Eye-opening Australia with Yalumba’s Louisa Rose

Louisa Rose & I prepare to lift the curtain on 47 benchmark Australian wines on our audience

I much enjoyed co-presenting two events with Yalumba’s Chief Winemaker, Louisa Rose, last week – what a font of knowledge and, of course, great wines.  Our first event was an excellent Sip & Savour Yalumba lunch at Cinnamon Kitchen followed by Wine Australia’s One Day Wine School, a comprehensive (120 slides) look and taste (47 wines) through Australian wine history, development and evolution.

When it’s not masquerading as ‘Gringott’s Wizarding Bank’ for Harry Potter the imposing Exhibition Hall of Australia House is a fine venue for Wine Australia’s One Day Wine School

One of our sweeties at One Day Wine School just happened to be my stand out wine from the Sip & Savour lunch. Surprisingly delicate, pure and precise, Yalumba FSW8B Botrytis Viognier 2014 (Wrattonbully) proved a fantastic match with a de-constructed cardamom ‘cheesecake’ with macerated strawberries, crumble topping and mint.  Tasted alongside the more honeyed Tamar Ridge Botrytis Riesling 2011 (Tasmania) at One Day Wine School, Rose said it surprised her how delicate Viognier is (even compared to Riesling) when botrytised.  We all agreed.

Taking a bow – Hari Nacarai, Operations Manager, The Cinnamon Club & Cinnamon Kitchen chef chef, Ramachandran Raju

And the surprises kept coming. Though Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2013 worked really well with a spicy starter of Kerala style stir-fried shrimps with shallots and curry leaves Rose, a model of restraint (or just savvy), held back some for our main course of smoked saddle of Kentish lamb with Rajasthan corn sauce.  For her, the (dry) Viognier proved the best match, even trumping the reds – Yalumba Patchwork Shiraz 2013 (Barossa) and the exquisite Yalumba The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz 2010 (Barossa).

But if, wrong-footed, most of us missed out on this match, Rose admitted she might have been wrong-footed had she tasted my stand out wine of One Day Wine School blind.  De Bortoli Yarra Valley Single Vineyard Selection Syrah A8 2012 is much less of a mouthful than its name – blind, she would have pronounced this elegant Syrah to be a Côte Rôtie.  On account of their delicacy and perfume, this Northern Rhône region’s Syrahs have often been compared to Burgundy.  No doubt, a Burgundian approach at De Bortoli (40% whole bunch/60% whole berry and foot plunging/ferment in open vats for gentle extraction) plays into that style, as does ageing in large format oak (500 and 2300 litre casks).  I couldn’t track down this out and out stunner from 1971 vines online here in the UK, but I’m after some bottles!